Gentry Locke and Ferrum College are pleased to announce Joshua Fairfield, JD as a panelist for the 2024 Gentry Locke Lecture Series. The event will be hosted at the College on Wednesday, April 10 at 7pm. The spring presentation titled “Demystifying AI: The Truth…a Terrible and Terrific Future” will focus on artificial intelligence, and its impact on industry, the future of jobs, and what higher education needs to consider as it prepares the students of today and tomorrow.
Fairfield is the William Donald Bain Family Professor of Law and Director of Artificial Intelligence Legal Innovation Strategy at Washington and Lee School of Law. He is an internationally recognized law and technology scholar who specializes in digital property, electronic contract, big data privacy, and virtual communities.
He has written on the law and regulation of e-commerce and online contracts and on the application of standard economic models to virtual environments. Professor Fairfield’s current research focuses on big data privacy models and the next generation of legal applications for cryptocurrencies. His articles on protecting consumer interests in an age of mass-market consumer contracting regularly appear in top law and law-and-technology journals, and policy pieces on consumer protection and technology have appeared in the New York Times, Forbes, and the Financial Times, among other outlets.
Before entering the legal profession, Professor Fairfield was a technology entrepreneur, serving as the director of research and development for language-learning software company. Rosetta Stone. Professor Fairfield consults with U.S. government agencies, including the White House Office of Technology and the Homeland Security Privacy Office, on national security, privacy, and law enforcement within online communities and as well as on strategies for protecting children online.
From 2009 to 2012, he provided privacy and civil liberties oversight for Intelligence Advance Research Project Activity (IARPA) research programs in virtual worlds. In 2012-13, he was awarded a Fulbright Grant to study trans-Atlantic privacy law at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods in Bonn, Germany. He was elected a member of the American Law Institute in 2013.
Professor Fairfield and the other panelists are experts representing a variety of fields including law, engineering, national security, and the military, as well as corporate finance and operations. Kevin Holt and Jessiah Hulle will host the event on behalf of Gentry Locke Attorneys.
College President Mirta Martin is grateful to have the co-hosted event bring Professor Fairfield and his fellow panelist to the College for a focused discussion on such a timely topic. “We are thrilled to have Professor Fairfield serve as a panelist to speak about demystifying artificial intelligence. As an internationally recognized law and technology scholar, Professor Fairfield brings unparalleled expertise in digital property, electronic contract, big data privacy, and virtual communities. His passion for innovation and dedication to safeguarding online communities make him an indispensable voice in the realm of technology law. We are honored to have him share his wisdom and expertise during the Gentry Locke Lecture Series as we strive to guide our academic community towards a future where technology and humanity thrive hand in hand.”
For event details and directions to Ferrum College, please visit:https://www.ferrum.edu/event-page/gentry-locke-speaker-series/
